Carcassonne, France December 5-8. 2009

Our first long weekend in Spain, just before we moved into our new house, found us travelling into Southern France to the area of Languedoc-Roussillon. We headed to the town of Carcassonne with its walled "La Cite" overlooking the newer town (La Basse Ville from the 13th century-reminiscent of Quebec City) and the Canal du Midi below. It looked like something out of a fairy tale! The hill on which La Cite now stands has been fortified over the centuries by a plethora of peoples: Gauls, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Franks, just to name a few! When Roussillon to the south was incorporated into the French Kingdom in 1659, La Cite was no longer so important as a frontier bastion. The walled city entered into decline and was only rescued by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. We stayed three nights within the walls, keeping to a rigorous schedule of cars in/cars out as no traffic was allowed during much of the daytime!















The first weekend of December began the Christmas season of lights in La Basse Ville.















Our hotel room overlooked the main square where Les Geants and men on stilts were dancing to a crowd of tourists, despite the cold, damp day.





















A small boy with his bow and arrow...like something out of the Middle Ages!



























































Note the man on stilts balancing on one (stilted) leg!




















Front entrance of our hotel.




















Looking back to where our room was located above the arched doorway.















Inside it was rather posh...a member of the Eastern & Oriental Chain of Hotels






























A Nativity Scene in the village Church.















A square in La Cite






























We couldn't tour the castle as the employees were on strike...all over France at that time, apparently!















Note the narrow street-yes, we drove down it!




















We went to the annual Foire au gras in nearby Castelnaudary where the main street was lined with stalls selling homemade goodies such as jams, fresh almonds, cheese, foie gras, wines, etc. On the second day, we drove to Aragon and Brousses where we found an old paper mill by a pretty stream in the woods.


































Later in the afternoon we climbed to four ruined castles at Lastours, part of the Cathars Castles situated between Carcassonne and Perpignan on the coast.















On our drive home, we ventured along the coast to Cap Leucate north of the Etang de Leucate, where there is a row of little restaurants by the fishing village selling fresh raw oysters, clams, mussels and sea urchins ("oursins" in French!). It was a very windy day with many kite surfers out on the lagoon. Pat enjoyed 6 "Belles Moyennes" oysters with bread and wine! I had bread and wine...















Note the beautiful sunny day on the Med and on the other side of the Pyrenees towards Spain! To the north, the Atlantic winds bring cold and damp weather to the Carcassonne area. Even a cup of coffee didn't do it for us...possibly the worst we have ever tasted was found in and around Carcassonne! Despite the bad java, we did like the food and found some wonderful wines at some pretty wineries! More to explore in the area at another time...